We’ve spent the last year and a half starting an agency at 0 and scaling it…
There have been plenty of ups and downs along the way, and we have learned a ton in the process.
Here are our 23 biggest lessons for scaling an agency:
1. Your offer is going to change A LOT along the way…Embrace the change
2. The NUMBER ONE rule of fulfillment: Stay ahead of communication with your clients
3. Never rely on one channel for leads. If you have a great following on Twitter, supplement this with lead gen and LinkedIn
4. Growth usually doesn’t follow a linear pattern… There will be good months, and there will be months where you move backwards
5. Faster alone, further together. We have 3 co-founders that have been here since day 1, and we work extremely well together
6. Hire people that are smarter than you. Some of our best ideas have come from our hires
7. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS! Churn rate, breakeven, MRR, client lifetime value, how much a qualified call is worth to you, etc.
8. Start now, figure it out later. We had next to no idea how we’d fulfill for our first few clients, yet we found a way
9. Play the long game. If you’re starting an agency to get rich quick and flex, you are GUARANTEED to burn out
10. Avoid shiny objects. Instead of bouncing from lead gen to influencer marketing and so on, we’ve stuck with one offer for over a year
11. Ask for referrals. If you do great work for a client and have a good relationship with them, it never hurts to ask!
12. Build your network. We can’t tell you how many clients have come to us courtesy of someone we’re connected with
13. Don’t overlook local relationships. We’ve had several business deals originate from dinner and cigars
14. Stay consistent. If you put your head down and work for 6 straight months, your agency will grow 10x
15. Hold yourself (and each other) accountable. We’ve had weekly goals calls for over 2 years straight.
16. Make key hires. Find bottlenecks in your systems, and go source talent to handle them for you
17. Value company culture. Every hire we’ve made has been based on how they’ll fit in at our agency… Skills can always be taught
18. Don’t get complacent. Once the agency hit our goal of $10k MRR, we made a new goal to hit $20k, then $50k, and so on…
19. Eliminate your bias. Instead of trying to offer what YOU think will work, offer what w the MARKET wants
20. Create an offer ecosystem. If a prospect isn’t a good fit for your core offer, you should have a downsell to pitch them on… Same goes for upsells to existing clients
21. REINVEST in your agency. We didn’t pay ourselves until 6 months after we became profitable… Instead we reinvested in coaching, hires, and scaling
22. Build to sell. A sellable business can exist without your input, start planning for that now.
23. Don’t give up. Our original offer was a total flop for 6+ months, then we decided to pivot to lead gen and everything clicked.
